Detours off Britta Blvd

www.britta.com

Thankfully it cleared up to blue skies & fluffy clouds for our bus ride along the Ring of Kerry! We even had a surprise stop on the way for a sheepdog demonstration, which was impressive. Those border collies are trained so well & still adorable & friendly. Absolutely gorgeous views all morning, especially of the vivid rainbow over Dingle Bay, where everyone on the bus took about 100 photos each as it kept getting brighter & brighter! I even used some of my expensive iPhone airtime to live post a rainbow photo to Facebook...haha! No double rainbow but still OMG... ;)

We stopped for lunch at a pub on the water with tasty food a fun gift shop, with great photo opportunities. Back on the road for more lovely scenery, then we stopped at the cute little town of Sneem with its waterfall, where I found Cyd a purple Irish wool hat. Moll's Gap and Ladies' View I had seen before, but this time they were much moodier with the rain clouds blowing in. The Black Valley was definitely black today! We just finished taking photos at Ladies' View when the rain started pouring down again. All through Killarney National Park around the lake it was almost as hazy & rainy as the day before, but at least we could see a few more mountains than the previous day.

We got back to our hotel around 3pm, so Cyd & I rested in our room for a bit, then after the weather cleared up again, we went strolling around downtown Killarney, where I bought a Donegal wool aqua & black flatcap and an embroidered Killarney t-shirt. I had rehearsal at 7pm & had to be in concert dress for rehearsal at 7pm, so I left Cyd to her stroll and got ready at the hotel, taking some photos of the concert signs at the church along the way. St Mary's Church was directly across from our hotel, with a lot of foot traffic to downtown, so our tour manager was able to lure a lot of people in for the concert. It was a small church but quite full, with more people coming in after we started who stayed standing in the back. A couple location-related intonation issues aside, the concert went very well, a nice acoustic but not so wet we had to take any of the fast pieces slower. We even had people standing with their applause!

After the concert we changed into comfier clothes then headed to the pub next door for traditional Irish music until 11pm, then a good 90s cover band, and they even had a techno dance club in the back. Tracia put her Irish dancing classes to use teaching others to dance at the pub! I even witnessed an authentic Irish pub brawl at the door, 5 wasted young guys vs. 4 bouncers and a bartender. Since Bulmers is the only cider anyone has, I had Jameson whiskey with 7UP again for a few drinks, agreed to a tequila shot with some Dublin guys over here for work (tequila shots with salt packets & lemon?!?) and was told by the other bartender that I needed to try Jameson's big brother, Crested Ten, only available in Ireland. It was tasty & smooth, but I would have rather had it on the rocks than just in a snifter. I gave almost everyone in our group tastes so they could try the special Irish whiskey. Cyd went off by herself, dancing until the wee hours in the club, and I hung out with Doug, Chris & Jeff for awhile listening to the cover band until about 1am.

Sorry I wasn't able to post this until we arrived in Cork, since I needed the sleep! I still have a little lingering congestion, but mostly over my cold, thank goodness. I'm being extra careful about breathing any smoke so I don't relapse, which is challenging when we have to wait outside for bus loading & unloading.